Hyde 'n seek - Jaheel moves to MVP in search of faster times
Published:Monday | May 28, 2018 | 12:00 AMAkino Ming/Staff Reporter
In an effort to improve the pace of his development, two-time World Under-20 400m hurdles champion Jaheel Hyde has moved to the MVP Track and Field Club.
Hyde, who was being guided by his former high-school coach Christopher Harley, said that he was not comfortable with what he considered to be a lack of progress over the past season.
"I never liked how things were going for me over the last year. I had to think about me and make a decision that I think will help me going forward," Hyde told The Gleaner yesterday.
In 2014, he won his first World Under-20 Championships title in the event in Eugene and repeated the feat two years later in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The only other Jamaican to have achieved that is Dexter Lee, who won back-to-back titles in the 100m in the 2008 and 2010 editions of what would later become the World Under-20 Championships.
Incidentally, Hyde registered his personal best time in the event - 48.52 seconds - on his way to winning the National Senior Championships title last year, while under the guidance of Harley. However, he has failed to dip below the 49-second barrier so far this season after four starts.
MID-SEASON SWITCH
"It is kinda funny because it is the middle of the season, but I had to sit down and talk to my parents and my then management team and they decided that this was the best decision going forward," Hyde explained. "I haven't been running the times that I should be running. I thought I would be running consistent 48 seconds," Hyde said.
He continued: "The Common-wealth Games being behind me played a factor in me making the decision at this time of the season, but I think I would have done the same even if there was a major event at the end of the season. I thought about this long and hard; it took a while, but I had to do what I think was best for me."
The organisation of the MVP Track and Field Club also played a factor in the 21-year-old's decision.
"It is a club that I admire from I was smaller. Everybody reacts different to a programme, so I am not going to watch the history so much, but I admire the work that they put in at the club. I am going there to work and see if it works for me," Hyde explained.
Hyde is the national junior record holder in the event at 48.81seconds. His best time this season is 49.14 seconds, which was done in the heats at the Commonwealth Games last month.